Inductee Profiles

1916 – 2002

George C. Cooper was a member of the “Golden Thirteen,” the first thirteen African American officers commissioned by the United States Navy.

1944 – Present

Tom D. Crouch is a renowned aviation author, museum curator,
and aeronautics historian.

1937 – Present

Willis “Bing” Davis is a renowned artist, educator, goodwill ambassador, and creative spark.

1870 – 1957

Governor James M. Cox was a visionary and highly successful businessman.

1888 – 1962

Levitt Luzern Custer was an inventor and entrepreneur whose inventions ranged from the very practical to the amusing.

1938 – 2010

Carl Day was known as an award-winning radio and television broadcaster and humanitarian.

1828 – 1890

George Crook was born and reared near Taylorsville, now a part of Huber Heights, Ohio.

1863 – 1899

Born in Dayton, in 1863, the year of the Emancipation Proclamation, Gussie Lord Davis was the first commercially successful Black American composer of popular songs.

1920 – 1940s

Chartered in 1920 as one of eight Negro League baseball teams, the Dayton Marcos played their first game at Westwood Field on Western Avenue (now James H. McGee Blvd), on June 12, 1920 against the Chicago Giants.